


Five Years

by Carrie_Poppins



Category: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away
Genre: F/M, Fluff, High School, Inspired by Fanart, Post-Canon, Reunions, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 06:03:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20304655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carrie_Poppins/pseuds/Carrie_Poppins
Summary: After five years, Haku can finally go searching for Chihiro.





	Five Years

**Author's Note:**

> I've been on a serious Ghibli high for the last couple of weeks. My friend showed me this beautiful artwork and this fic was the result. 
> 
> https://www.zerochan.net/2478197

He gazed without seeing as the countryside flashed past through the wide windows, the train rumbling beneath his feet as he clutched the handhold hanging from the rack above him. He’d never had so much nervous energy coursing through him before, and the constant press of human-scented bodies around him didn’t help. His heart wouldn’t stop pounding in spite of his attempts to calm it, breathing deeply and pressing his free hand against his chest.

_ Five years. _

It had been five years since the last time he saw her. Five years since she had raced down the grassy hillside and gazed straight ahead as she ran through the tunnel. Five years since she remembered his name and set him free. Five years since she had saved his life and stolen his heart.

It had taken five years to gain enough strength to enter the human world at will. Five years to track her down. Five years to arrange his entrance into her new high school. After five years, would she still remember him? 

Zeniba had assured him that the hair tie she had been wearing when she left  _ should _ have helped her to retain her memories, but he lived in the fear that she had lost or gotten rid of it, or that she had convinced herself that such wild fantasies couldn’t possibly be real, and that it was all a distant dream. After all, five years - a mere blink of an eye to a spirit - was a long time to humans. 

But the most terrifying thought of all was that after five years, she would think that  _ he _ had forgotten  _ her, _ and that important promise he had made to her. The fear that, even if she did remember, she would hate him for taking so long to come for her.

He took another deep breath and closed his eyes, fighting to push such thoughts aside. He carefully turned on the spot, narrowly avoiding stepping on anyone’s toes, in order to look up at the scrolling sign displaying the next station. He had two more stops before he had to get off. 

Someone bumped into him as they squeezed towards the exit, causing him to stumble forward slightly. The person apologized hurriedly, and he nodded an acknowledgement, but didn’t trust himself to speak. He knew it was an irrational fear, but who could blame him? He hadn’t lived amongst humans in nearly ten years; he didn’t want to say something wrong in ignorance of modern culture.

The crowd continued to ripple and flow as the train drew closer to the station, with more and more passengers pushing their way towards the doors. Between the shifting bodies and the flickers of bright clothing, he found his eye caught on a pink sweater and a navy blue kerchief under a head of brown hair, bent over some task that he couldn’t quite make out. He wasn’t quite certain, but he thought he recognized the uniform as belonging to the same school he was headed towards. 

Curious. Would it be appropriate to ask? It could be helpful to know another student at the school, someone who could help him look for her.

The train decelerated rapidly, forcing him to cling to the handhold lest he fall. The moment the doors were opened, people began to rush past him, pushing and shoving to get on and off before they closed again. Somehow he lost his grip in the chaos, and found himself shoved to the other side of the entryway, closer to the girl he had noticed earlier. He paused to catch his breath, searching for a new handhold but finding none before the train started off again. With a startled cry, he stumbled forward, catching himself against a glass panel right next to the other student’s shoulder. She jumped, her head snapping up, and an apology was already forming on his lips when he glanced down at the task she had been so consumed with.

He froze, the words fading like smoke on the wind, as he caught sight of the sketchbook clutched in her arms,where she had been adding shading to a depiction of a view from a balcony overlooking an endless, shallow sea, bathed in the light of a full moon. But the centerpiece of the drawing was the sinuous body of a dragon, flying low over the waves with a child clinging to its back.

He knew that scene. He  _ dreamed _ of that scene. 

As his heart threatened to beat its way out of his chest, he forced his gaze upward, taking in the bright blue bag and the pair of keychains attached to the zipper, obviously homemade, depicting a little gray mouse and a robed figure with a Noh mask. His breath quickened as his eyes continued their search, but he couldn’t quite work up the willpower to study her face yet. Instead he took in the familiar brown ponytail adorned with black pom-poms that had been given little googly eyes, as well as the secretive flash of purple light that they couldn’t quite hide. He heard her gasp softly, and in his peripheral vision saw her raise the sketchbook so that it covered her mouth. 

Gathering his courage, he forced himself to meet the familiar, dark gray eyes that sparkled with tears as they stared into his. 

Her face was thinner, having lost much of the roundness of childhood, but her chestnut hair framed it in the exact same way that it always had. Her cheeks were a rosy shade of pink, and her lips as she lowered her drawing back to her chest, were parted in wonder. 

“Haku?” she whispered, her voice on the verge of breaking, and in that moment, any remaining uncertainty abandoned his heart. 

“Chihiro,” he murmured back, his lips curling into a smile. 

Her breath hitched in her throat, the tears finally spilling down her cheeks before she pushed forward and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, her forehead pressed into his neck. “You’re here,” she sighed, and he could hear the contented smile in her voice. 

“I’m here,” he confirmed, cocooning her in his embrace in turn and pressing his nose against her hair, breathing in her scent and her warmth. 

“I’ve missed you,” she murmured. “There hasn’t been a day when I haven’t thought of you.”

“I’ve missed you too. I wish I could have come sooner, but I wasn’t strong enough to leave the Spirit World before now.”

She shook her head, her bangs tickling his throat. “No, it’s okay. You’re here now.” She pulled back slightly, much to his disappointment, but the beautiful smile blossoming across her face made up for the loss. “You kept your promise. That’s all that matters.”

At that, he smiled too, something warm and light swelling like a balloon in his chest. “Not even Yubaba could have stopped me,” he reassured her, pulling her close once more. She came willingly, even humming happily as she settled one hand against his chest, the other still wrapped around the sketchbook trapped between them. He wasn’t sure how long they stood there, basking in one another’s warmth while the other passengers cast them odd looks, but it was long enough that the conductor announced their impending arrival at the next station before either felt inclined to draw away from the other. 

“How long will you be staying?” she asked as the train began to slow down, a note of anxiety filling her voice, and his smile broadened.

“I’m not going anywhere, Chihiro.”

Her eyes widened sharply. “You… you mean it?”

He nodded. “I’ll have to go back at night to replenish my energy and continue training with Zeniba, but I’ve enrolled in your school. I’ll be able to see you every day from now on.”

Her breath seemed to shudder, the beginnings of a wonderful smile appearing in the corners of her mouth when the doors opened and the rush of people began again, only this time he and Chihiro joined them, lacing their fingers together so as not to be separated in the turmoil. She pulled him through the crowd towards the exit, and he had to fight down a chuckle as it occurred to him that their roles had switched: now she was the guide, and he the lost child in an unfamiliar world. 

_ But honestly, _ he thought as they walked up the stairs to the main street together and he watched her eyes sparkle in the sunlight as she beamed up at him, so full of life and warmth that he had to be careful not to melt under her gaze,  _ there’s really no place that I’d rather be. _


End file.
